Well, it's basically been forever since I've posted, but I haven't been very active in the community here so I'm guessing people won't have noticed that I've been gone.

Just wanted to do a quick plug for my blog, Moments In Time. I got a sweet deal on webhosting over at Dreamhost (they had a sale for a year of web hosting for $10 instead of $10/month! That includes domain registration), and so I decided to do a blog about my experiences learning photography, mostly through my photography class that I'm taking this semester.

The link is: cmbelped.com. My latest post, Scavenger Hunt, is a collection of pictures I shot for my scavenger hunt assignment (explained on the post). If you happen to see this, please take some time to comment for me, I could use feedback!

So, we've had these up on YouTube for about 5 months now. But I just keep forgetting to put them up here. So, here we go. These videos, produced under the name Shifty Penguin Productions, are original Machinima written, directed and edited by myself and my friends, filmed using Halo 3 and Halo 2 (for one scene). Originally starting out as a joke between myself and another dude, we quickly went from joking to "we just bought our capture card" to "omfgPremiereIsNuts!" to "we have 3 hours to put these videos together and burn DVDs". What originally started as an interesting way to make something for all of our friends to take home after our last big Halo party before college has morphed into something a little crazier.

We have a sequel to Operation Flaming Gargoyle, our main production from last summer, slated to be finished this coming summer...We went from a 15 minute total movie (5 minute intro, 10ish minute movie) to an almost 45 minute movie without the intro (or so we estimate, anyway). We'll also have some more extras put up on YouTube as we go along, assuming we can finish everything we've written (no small task, believe me; our main writer gets bored very easily). Hopefully by October I'll get everything up that we make over the summer; because I know you all care so much, I'll post when we update .

So, if you have 20 minutes to kill, feel free to go and watch Operation Flaming Gargoyle, A Night at the High Ground, and the trailer for Operation Flaming Gargoyle 2. Some inside jokes you may not get, but that's ok. Hopefully you'll be mildly entertained, at least.

One of my favorite choral works of all time...Alas, it could not be released using the below text due to copyright issues, and instead uses a specially written text by Charles Anthony Silvestri. However, the Stopping By Woods text is absolutely gorgeous. If you can track either version down, Eric Whitacre's "Sleep" for choral is wonderful

Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. -Stopping by Woods (On a Snowy Evening) - Robert Frost

Friday morning I picked up a new XBox, then that afternoon I transferred my licenses over to the new console and I am officially back up and running. Just in time for GoW2 and 7-on-7 Halo 3 achievements! w00t!